Concert Report Essay

Example #1

On April 26, 2000, I attended a concert at Mesa College in room C-119. The concert started at 12:00. There I observed as the musicians set up and notice that all of the musicians were all wearing black. The setting of the concert was basic. There were chairs facing the front of the class and looking towards a black piano and a set of chairs that formed a circle.

The concert started out with a song sang by Kian Freitas and accompanied Mr. Freitas was Yvonne Lee one the piano. After Mr. Freitas and Ms. Lee were finished another set of musicians took the stage. There were 4 violin players and 2 cello players playing classical music. I was amazed that so few instruments were to be played to conduct such strong music.

During the concert, I notice five different elements that made the concert more enjoyable. The five elements are:

1. Melody: The melody of the first piece done by Freitas and Lee was slow and smooth. The vocal of Mr. Freitas complaments the melody of the piano.
2. Rhythm: I notice that the vocal and piano rhythm flow at a different pace. The piano was at a faster pace than the vocals.
3. Harmony: The harmony of the piece was nice and pleasant. The voice of Mr. Freitas added depth to the piece.
4. Timbre: The timbre of the piece done by the orchestra had distinctive characteristics from the violins.
5. Texture: The texture of the piece done by the orchestra had different layers of sounds coming from the violins. You could hear different texture coming from the violins.

Example #2

For this concert report, I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talents that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students.

I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see…

This was a fairly simple and straightforward piece. It started out slow with small building crescendos, which became more and more powerful. It had a dark, moody sound and I think that I was played in a minor key.

There were many reverberating notes to convey this eerie and sad tone. It became progressively more dramatic and intense, constantly repeated with stronger tone color. The fifth piece was called Epileptical Bipolarity by Chris Wheeler.

The piece was written for trumpet with piano accompaniment. It had three movements; the first was centered mainly on the trumpet. It started with low notes and a slow tempo and built to a lively and quick-expression of joy and energy. The second movement was played with the trumpet muted. It was much, much slower in tempo, and used much lower notes, played within a very small range.

The third movement starts out livelier and continues with an upbeat sound. The melody seems almost recognizable and is, therefore, comforting to listen to after the sad second movement. Then the melody stops abruptly and the piano joins in to finish the song.

The sixth piece was called This The Moment Sing Me a Song by Craig McGill. This piece had two singers and piano accompaniment. The song is about a glorious moment when two people meet or possibly fall in love. Regardless, it is a very important moment in the lives of the couple, represented by the male and female singers.

 

Example #3 – AC/DC Concert Report Essay

This concert took place at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis Tennessee. The main performance was by AC/DC and the band Gutted Snake opened for them. The members of AC/DC are Malcolm Young on guitar, Angus Young on guitar, Brian Johnson on vocals, Cliff Williams on bass, and Phil Rudd on drums. Gutted Snake opened at 7:30 PM and played until 8:00 PM. There was a remission, and AC/DC started at 8:30. They continued playing until around 11:00 PM.

AC/DC played songs from all of their records. The bulk of the songs that they performed were: Give It Up, Goodbye & Good Riddance to bad luck, Got You By the Balls, Guns For Hire, Hail Caesar, Hard As A Rock, Have a drink on me, Heatseeker, This House Is On Fire, This Means War, Thunderstruck, Touch Too Much, Two’s Up, Up To My Neck In You, Walk All Over You, What Do You Do For Money Honey, What’s Next To The Moon, Whiskey On The Rocks, Who Made Who, Whole Lotta Rosie, You Ain’t Got A Hold On Me, You Shook Me, Back In Black, Back In Business, Hells Bells, Highway To Hell, Kicked In The Teeth, and Let’s Make It. These were all played back-to-back without many breaks.

The pyramid is a nice sized arena and is good housing for concerts. About half of the audience was your average 30-40-year-old, and the other half were the redneck, leather-wearing, dope-smoking type. Nothing spectacular happened until AC/DC came to the stage. At this point, fireworks went off and a big brass color blow-up of the lead singer appeared on stage. Two of the band members were wearing blue jeans and black T-shirts. Two others had on black pants and black T-shirts.

One of the guitarists has a traditional outfit that he always wears. This was black shorts and a white button-up shirt with a tie. There were big screens above the stage where you could see the band, and what the cameras were filming. During one of the songs, there appeared a big blow-up doll wearing a bikini. Toward the end of the concert, they highlighted a big bell hanging from the top of the pyramid.

The song You Shook Me All Night Long was one of my personal favorites. The rhythm of this song is strong with a repetitive pattern. The tempo is fast and stays about the same throughout the entire song. The Dynamics are medium to loud, and it doesn’t have much contrast. The song is homophonic in texture, being that there is one main melody with an accompaniment. The melody has a medium range of notes and is very repetitive. This is one of AC/DC’s most popular songs, and I think one of their best.

Another one of their good songs is Give It Up. This has similar qualities to You Shook Me All Night Long, as most of their songs do. This song has a fast tempo, and repeating melody. The dynamics are loud and stay the same. The tone color of this song is energetic. The harmony is in a major key and this is a very uplifting song.

The majority of AC/DC’s songs are very similar. The main difference is speed. They have some slow songs that differ from most of their fast tempo songs. I liked the song You Shook Me All Night Long because of the beat. It has a good beat that keeps repeating.

The audience was pretty wild at this concert. You had the “good” group, which didn’t do much besides clap. Then you had the real “wild” group that would go crazy throughout the concert. The women were the ones doing most of the screaming and clawing at the stage. Everyone else was loud all the time except when the band was talking. Overall the crowd was great in cheering for the band.

I liked the entire performance. Some of the people that attended were a little out of my league, but I still had fun. I am not a big AC/DC fan, but I enjoyed the music. They gave a great performance and had many special effects that awed us. The main thing I learned is what type of crowd likes that kind of music. I had no idea. I ended up having a great time and am glad that I went.

 

Example #4 – Classical Music Concert Report

The performing group was the Astral Trio, Nicolas Kendall on the Violin, Clancy Newman on the Cello, and Anna Polonsky on the Piano. They performed on Monday, November 5, 2001, at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

The Cerritos Center is exceptionally stylish and classy or maybe I think like this because it was my first time in a musical concert. In fact, I was nervous since I didn’t know where to walk but the center was well coordinated plus I was helped all the way to my seat. My seat was located at the front left section of the concert hall. It was an adequate seat location for the reason that I could clearly observe and listen to the performers quite well. The stage lighting was fine because it focused on the performers. The only problem I noticed was that the seats were extremely uncomfortable and too compact to each other.

There was one special feature at the end of the concert, it was an encore presentation of another movement in the Trio in B Major of Johannes Brahms.

The age of the audience ranged from children as young as 5 years to elder adults. Almost everybody dressed differently but all were dressed suitable for the occasion. The behavior towards the performers was supporting and well-liked reactions regarding the pieces they played.

The first piece played was Trio in G Major, Op 1 No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven of the Classical Period. The performance medium was the Orchestra Trio; they used all three instruments in the entire piece. (Violin, Cello, and Piano) The texture of the piece itself was homophonic. The piece also used ample terraced dynamics or gradual dynamic change throughout the piece.

The first movement was in a fast tempo, with a nice but not catchy rhythm. Since it was quite hard to remember when it was over. The second movement was in a slow tempo, it very dramatic. It made me sad as if someone died. The audience seemed captivated by grief it projected. The third movement was like the first but changed w/ higher tones in a fast tempo.

The second piece played was Cafe Music by Paul Schoenfield of the Twentieth Century. The performance medium was the Orchestra Trio; they used all three instruments in the entire piece.

The texture of the piece was polyphonic/homophonic.

The entire piece was smooth and suave, a charming melody for any moment. The first movement was in fast tempo; it resembled a get it going rhythm, a little slow dance-like. The second movement was in a slow tempo; this movement was like saying goodbye to something but not in an unhappy manner. The third movement was similar to the ritornello form; it had aspects of the first movement.

The last piece played was Trio in B Major, Op. 8 by Johannes Brahms of the Romantic Period. The performance medium was the same as well as the instruments played. The texture of the piece was homophonic/polyphonic. This piece had a harmonic and relaxing melody. The first movement was in a fast but some parts slow tempo.

This movement was the most relaxing of all. The second movement was in a fast tempo; the music played was like reminiscing old time playing on a hilly grass field. The third movement was in a slow tempo, not projecting sorrow ness but more like peacefulness. The last movement was in a fast tempo; it had a high climax point that marked the end of the main theme.

The piece that had the most emotional effect on me was the second movement in the Beethoven piece. It was so dramatic that it made me remember the times when I had to let go of some of the people I loved the most. The concert itself was great but that movement really shook me.

 

Example #5

On Saturday, November 21, 2015, San Francisco Symphony gave its amazing concert of classical music at Davies Symphony Hall. The conductor of the orchestra was Michael Tilson Tomas and Laura Claycomb sang soprano. This concert introduced three pieces which had been created in the epoch of Romanticism. The played music was the celebration of love and manifestation of the beauty of life. Fascinating melodies and professionalism of musicians provided great pleasure and inspiration to the visitors of the concert hall.

The concert composed of two parts. During the first part two musical compositions, created by Richard Strauss were played, namely “Serenade in E-flat major” and “Brentano Lieder”.

After the intermission, the orchestra played a beautiful symphony composed by Robert Schumann “Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major”, also known as “Spring”. Two of these pieces consist of several parts. For example, during the concert five songs of “Brentano Lieder” were played – “An die Nacht”,  “Ich wollt’ ein Strausslein binden”, “Sausle, liebe Myrte!”, “Als mir dein Lied erklang”  and “Amor”. The leading part of this piece belongs to the soprano singer, who is accompanied by the orchestra.  And Schumann`s symphony contains 4 movements.

For me, it was the first time I had heard all these compositions, but I was so amazed by the play of the orchestra that after the event, I searched on the Internet some performances of these pieces, played by other musicians and singers. And I was inspired to listen to classical music more.

Since the concert was played by the Symphony Orchestra, there were presented plenty of different instruments, which provided for truly rich and deep sound. In “Serenade in E-flat major” wind instruments, such as flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns were the most significant.

While playing “Brentano Lieder” the whole orchestra was engaged: wind instruments, strings, and percussion instruments played their specific parts. And obviously the main attention of the viewers was attracted by gorgeous Laura Claycomb, who was singing soprano. Performing of “Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major” also required the play of the whole orchestra but the key role in this composition belonged to the strings.

The first piece played in the concert was “Serenade in E-flat major” by German composer Richard Strauss. He created it when he was at the age of seventeen, in 1882. At that time in European music, Romanticism prevailed. It was the era, when the artists, not only musicians but also those ones in the sphere of literature and art, believed in the unlimited capabilities of an individual, in the strength of his spirit and his unbreakable will. And the composers of that time thought that the music should acquire some kind of narrative character and tell a story to a listener.

The Serenade begins in a slow tempo, a listener can hear the variety of sounds – sometimes it is rather sad but then some bright and light note emerges. The melody moves slowly and smoothly towards its culmination. The serenade sounds quite solemnly. Despite the melody is very light, there are some quite sharp transitions from forte to piano at the beginning. Generally, this melody expresses a wide range of emotions. On the one hand, there are happiness, excitement, joyfulness, and sometimes even peace and calm.

On the other hand, there are some motives for anxiety, restlessness, and maybe fear. I think that the purpose of this music is to tell a story of love. At the beginning of the melody, a listener can feel some uncertainty, and such motives can be associated with the period when two people love each other, but they are still not sure that their feelings are mutual and they don’t know how to confess to each other.

Then the music conveys the development of the relations, it gets louder and more precise. And the first bright culmination of the melody means that the lovers finally happen to be together. After this, music moves in different directions, it expresses some happy moments of their life, and at the same time some obstacles they should overcome together. The serenade has a very positive and pleasant finale, the last notes of the melody are full of hope and faith.

The second piece is also composed of Ricard Strauss. “Brentano Lieder” is a set of songs created in 1918. At that time, Romanticism almost disappeared from European music, but Strauss as one of its most influential representatives kept some romantic motives in his works. This composition, as a previous one, is also dedicated to the theme of love. For me, the most exciting about this performance was the singing of Laura Claycomb.

The sound of her voice was so deep and pure that it made all the viewers in the hall focus their attention only on her. Her excellent soprano and the music played by the orchestra made the performance very dramatic. I was delighted by the composer`s talent to create such beautiful harmony between the sounding of the musicians and the singer. Despite sometimes the music expressed some anxiety and restlessness, in general, the melody sounded very smooth.

The third composition played by the orchestra after the intermission was “Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major” or simply known as Spring, by another German musician Robert Schumann. This symphony was written in 1841 and it became the first symphony composed by Schumann, but at the same time, it was one of the most famous of his works.

The middle of the 19th century was the time of vigorous development of Romanticism in Europe and Schumann is one of the most prominent representatives of this direction in music. This composition impressed me the most, I was excited both by the beautiful melody and by the professionalism of the musicians.

The symphony is extremely powerful and emotional, the sound is very bright and solemn. This composition in the anthem of life and spring as a symbol of new life. The symphony has four structural elements. It begins with the sonorous sound of fanfare that develops in the sophisticated orchestral theme. The tempo and rhythm of the melody are incredibly fast, therefore the music is very dynamic and impetuous. Strings played a great role in performing this masterpiece. The melody of violins was so light, fascinating and exquisite, that it seemed to be floating in the air, above the orchestra and the concert hall.

This symphony is a creative interpretation of the composer`s feelings induced by his emotions about spring. The melody consists of plenty of contrasts, but it`s still extremely harmonic. I think that in such a way the author wanted to introduce different moods of spring. For example, the fast melody of the violin describes the snow blizzard, that could happen at the beginning of spring, but some bright, positive notes create the image of the sunlight shining over the forest.

The music is very dynamic, it shows how quickly nature revives after winter, some passages even resemble the singing of birds. While listening to this symphony a picture of a big forest with magnificent trees and plenty of animals and birds emerged in my imagination. The gradual development of the melody shows the awakening of nature in this forest.

Trees influenced by the warm sunshine are getting bigger and greener, birds are coming back to their homes and start singing on the tree branches and flying up to the blue sky and animals bring up the young ones and walk across the forest. But the image is not that idealistic, sometimes the music expresses some negative emotions.

And such passages induce a picture of a strong cold wind blowing over the forest or heavy rain dropping to the earth. Generally, this symphony is full of controversial emotions. There is great excitement and a desire to live, but at the same time, there is a sense of threat. However, without any doubt, this music is extremely life-affirming and inspiring. I am sure that after this concert I will listen to this symphony again and again.

Attending this concert was a great pleasure for me. Classical music is not that popular in modern times and often its value and beauty are underestimated. This concert has reminded me once again how amazing, pure, and exciting classical music is. The sound of the orchestra was so wonderful and the soprano of Laura Claycomb was so fascinating that each note touched the deepest sides of my spirit and it made me feel goosebumps all over me several times during the concert.

Such professionalism and dedication to music amazed me a lot. I was impressed by how complicated and sophisticated classical music compositions are. During the concert, I was thinking that the composers, who had created such beautiful music, had to be extremely talented and have a really holistic image of the orchestra to write parts for different instruments and then combine them into a symphony. It really seems incredible. Moreover, I was impressed that classical music can induce such amazing associations in consciousness and provoke a lot of deep and strong emotions.

Generally speaking, the concert of San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall was truly amazing and undoubtedly worth visiting. This concert has proved once again that classical music masterpieces are still immortal even if they were created more than a century ago.

 

Example #6 – Concert Report: No. 2 Intermezzo by Robert Schumann

The first piece I am going to discuss is the Liederkries movement from the piano concerto, No. 2 Intermezzo by Robert Schumann (1810-1856), the great composer of the Romantic era. This is a piece that is included in a twelve songs cycle, and Intermezzo is the second piece in this cycle.

This cycle is called Eichendorff Liederkreis. This composition refers to the Romantic era because all of Schumann’s songs were written specifically for voice piano performance or lieder.

I will write about this song because this composition serves the brightest representative of its epoch encompassing all features of romantic songs. While listening to this musical piece, I managed to feel an intense expression of emotion where fantasy and aspiration for adventure can be perceived. The melody was sounding quite lyrical, often chromatic, and I could hear the use of discords.

I could also hear the ambiguity in rhythm and meter, and a special focus was also made on tonality. In particular, I could hear the dissonance in voice and piano and, at the same time, it was possible to feel how the piano catches each amplified tone of the voice. Nevertheless, the music sounded much more delicate as compared with a rigid voice with a wide pitch range.

The second piece I am going to consider is from the Chanson de Don Quichotte from the lieder concerto, No 1. Chanson du Depart of Jack Ibert (1890-1962), a great French composer who did not belong to any of the dominant genres of music. Therefore, he is famous for his eclectic compositions.

The composition is from the first part of a two-party Chanson de Don Quichotte. The song is written for voice and piano and has the characteristic feature of the eclectic genre in music. While listening to this composition, I could hear the notes of romanticism in the beginning.

At the end of this musical piece, the song sounded even a bit frivolous and confusing. The rhythmic patterns were reminiscent of Romantic music because the voice pitch varied and piano accompanied the narrations of the performer.

Hence, the piece reminded me of the incidental music because I could predict what part would be next. The lyrical orientation of the song was sophisticatedly intertwined with ironical and even satirical features, which was quite typical of Ibert’s compositions.

Therefore, it was impossible to distinguish between the music and farce. Despite the diversity of genres and styles used in the movement, general features of the music piece could still be attained to the Classical performance since the composition was accompanied by piano. Besides, the song suggested an antique sounding with vocal melismas.

In general, the concert was significantly inspiring and touching at the same time. A combination of romantic and classical styles kept the audience in suspense.

Delicate transitions and incidental resonances precisely reflected the prominent characteristic of the style. The lyrics of the presented pieces unveiled the themes of love, suffering, passion, and remorse. The music was transferring the audience in romantic times.

I was especially captured by the performers who managed to grasp every single meaning of each intonation and word. It is not in vain that I chose the songs by Schumann and Ibert because they seemed quite similar in meaning and thematic reflection. I should also admit that the differences in styles and genres did not divert my attention from the original ideas of the songs.

 

Example #7

On Wednesday, May 8th I attended a steel band concert for the first time. Experiencing new music is something that I like to do, so when it was assigned to attend a concert I was pretty excited. When I attended the concert I was greeted with many surprises. Overall attending Erie Community College’s steel band concert was a great entertaining eye-opening experience.

Before attending the steel band concert I was not sure what to expect. When I heard the words “steel band” I thought of a band with tubas and trumpets, not of a band with Caribbean type steel drums.

As soon as the band members started to play I was shocked, in a good way. I was expecting boring music, not Caribbean type music that wanted to make dance. My favorite song the band played was a song by Steve Butters called “Don’t look back”. The Steve Butters song was my favorite because it was so surprising hearing that type of music played by a band here at E. C.C.

The music really reminded me of Caribbean type music because of the sound of the steel drums, it made me feel happy as if I was on a vacation. Not being exposed to this type of music made the experience so much better because it was something new and foreign.

All in all the steel band concert was an entertaining and eye-opening experience. In the future, I would definitely like to attend another steel band concert. The vibe of the concert was a great one making it a cool place to be.